For most tradies, a weekly plan with no lock-in is the safer thing to sign, because you can walk away the week the work stops paying for itself. In our worked example below, leaving at month 3 costs $4,550 on a weekly plan and $19,000 on a 12-month contract with a payout clause. A contract can still be the better deal in a few cases. I’ll show you when.
Updated November 2026.
- A weekly plan costs you only the weeks you use. A 12-month contract with a payout clause can cost the same whether you leave at month 3 or month 12.
- A longer contract is fair when it comes with a lower rate, pays off a big build, or covers SEO that takes a few months to show.
- Whatever you sign, your domain, Google Business Profile and Google Ads account should be in your name. Ask who owns the website.
- A guarantee says what happens if the work fails. A lock-in says what happens if you want to leave.
I run a marketing agency for tradies and we bill weekly, so I have a side in this. I’ll still tell you when a contract is the better deal.
Weekly plan vs 12-month contract at a glance
The dollar rows use the worked example further down the page: a weekly plan at $350 a week against a 12-month contract at $1,500 a month with a $1,000 setup fee and a payout clause. Your numbers will be different.
| Weekly plan, no lock-in | 12-month contract | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay up front | Often nothing, or a setup fee if a site is built for you | Often a setup fee, plus the first month |
| Total if you leave at month 3 (example) | $4,550 | $19,000 |
| Total if you leave at month 6 (example) | $9,100 | $19,000 |
| Total if you stay 12 months (example) | $18,200 | $19,000 |
| Exit fee | None, or a site buy-out if the build was free | Whatever the contract says, sometimes every month left |
| Who owns the website if you leave | Depends on the deal. Ask. | Depends on the deal. Ask. |
| Who owns your Google profile and ad account | Should be you either way | Should be you either way |
| How results are reported | Set by the agency. Ask to see a sample. | Set by the agency. Ask to see a sample. |
| What keeps the agency working hard | You can leave any week | Their reputation and your renewal |
Why agencies use lock-in contracts
There are honest reasons. Building a website, setting up tracking and writing service pages is a lot of work in the first few weeks. If a client leaves after one month, the agency has done that work at a loss. A contract makes sure the setup gets paid for.
SEO is the other reason. Rankings take time, and an agency doesn’t want to be judged on month two. In our guide to what SEO costs for tradies, I put the wait for steady enquiries from new suburb pages at 4 to 6 months. A short first commitment is fair for that.
The weaker reason is cash flow. A signed year is money the agency can count on even if the results never come. That risk sits with you.
The real cost of leaving early: a worked example
This is a made-up example to show the maths. It is not a quote from any agency, including ours.
Say you sign a 12-month contract at $1,500 a month with a $1,000 setup fee. The contract says that if you leave early, you pay the months left.
- Leave after 3 months: $1,000 setup, plus $4,500 paid, plus $13,500 for the 9 months left. Total $19,000.
- Leave after 6 months: $1,000, plus $9,000 paid, plus $9,000 for the 6 months left. Total $19,000.
- Stay the full 12 months: $1,000, plus $18,000. Total $19,000.
With a full payout clause, leaving early saves you nothing. You pay the year either way.
Now take a weekly plan at $350 a week with no setup fee and no exit fee. Thirteen weeks is $4,550. Twenty-six weeks is $9,100. Fifty-two weeks is $18,200. If the work isn’t paying off by month 3, you stop and keep the $14,450 difference.
Some contracts charge only part of the months left, or let you out after a set notice period. Read the exact clause. The numbers above swing a lot on that one line.
What to check in any marketing contract
- Your domain name. It should be registered in your name or your business name, with the login in your hands. If you lose the domain, you lose your email and your website address.
- The website itself. Ask if you own it on day one, after a set time, or never. Ask what you get if you leave: the full site, a copy of the files, or nothing.
- Your Google Business Profile. You should be the owner. The agency should be added as a manager, and you should be able to remove them.
- Your Google Ads account. It should be your account, billed to your card, with the agency given access. If the account is theirs, your ad history and data stay with them when you go.
- Notice period. How many days or weeks before you can stop paying?
- Break fees. Is it every month left, part of them, or a flat fee? Write down the dollar figure for leaving at month 3.
- Who holds the logins. Get a list of every account the agency sets up for you and who can sign in to each one.
If you’re a small business, the law gives you some cover. Since 9 November 2023, a business can be fined for unfair terms in a take-it-or-leave-it contract with a small business (under 100 staff or under $10 million a year), according to the ACCC. So a one-sided term in a long contract is worth asking about.
Questions to ask before you sign
- What do I pay in total if I leave at month 3?
- What do I walk away with if I leave?
- Is my Google Business Profile in my name, with you as a manager?
- Is the Google Ads account mine, and do you add a markup to ad spend?
- Can I see a sample monthly report?
- What happens if the results don’t come?
A good agency answers these in one phone call. If you’re still weighing up who to hire at all, our page on agency vs freelancer vs in-house covers that choice.
How a guarantee differs from a lock-in
A lock-in protects the agency if you want to leave. A guarantee protects you if the work doesn’t deliver.
When you read a guarantee, check what is measured, when, and what you must do to claim it. A guarantee with no clear measure is hard to claim on.
If you’d rather hand it over
Here’s how we do it at Dossis Digital. All three plans are billed weekly by direct debit, with no lock-in and no minimum term.
- Spark: $100 a week, no setup fee.
- Growth: $275 a week, no setup fee.
- Domination: $450 a week, plus a $1,500 setup fee.
There is one catch, and I want you to know it before you sign. On Spark and Growth, we build your website without charging you up front. So the site stays ours until you’ve made 26 weekly payments. If you leave before then, you can buy it out by paying the weeks left. For example, with 8 weeks to go on Spark, that’s $800. After 26 weeks, the site is yours. On Domination, the setup fee pays for the build, so you own the site from day one.
Your Google Business Profile is always yours.
On Growth and Domination we also give a guarantee. If your sixth month doesn’t bring more enquiries than your average month before we started, I refund every weekly fee you’ve paid, plus $1,000. The conditions are on our guarantee page. Full plan details are on pricing, and the fine print is in our terms.
Not always. It can be a fair deal if it gives you a lower rate you’d stay for anyway, spreads the cost of a big custom build, or covers SEO that needs a few months to show. The risk is the exit clause. Work out what you’d pay in total if you left at month 3 before you sign.
It depends on the contract. Some charge every month left, some charge part of it, and some let you go after a notice period. Read the break fee clause. If you’re a small business and a term looks one-sided, the ACCC has information on unfair contract terms that may apply.
Whoever the contract says. Some agencies hand it over on day one, some after a set time, and some keep it. Ask before you sign, and get the answer in writing. Your domain name should always be registered in your name.
Yours. You should be the owner of the profile and the agency should be added as a manager. That way you keep your reviews and your listing if you ever change agencies.
Not always. A contract may offer a lower rate for committing to a year. Compare the full-year total on each, then compare what you’d pay if you left at month 3. A weekly plan often wins on the second number even when it loses on the first.
What It's Done for Tradies Like You
7x back on Google jobs
C&J Gardens, Bacchus Marsh. In September 2026 every $1 of our fee and ads came back as about $7 in jobs from Google, by their own books.
See the case study$2.40 back for every $1
NextGen Electricians, Bacchus Marsh. Paid work matched to website forms alone, phone calls not even counted. Top Google result for "electrician bacchus marsh".
See the case study8 to 26 enquiries a month
TACT Bio Recovery, Melbourne. From a website almost nobody could find to a steady flow of jobs from Google search, ads and AI.
See the case study416 enquiries in October 2026
Across the 14 trade businesses we work with, each person counted once. Every month on the board, by trade.
See the results boardWant Us to Do This for You?
Dossis Digital does this for tradies every week, with no lock-in. Leave your details and we'll call you back with what we'd do first for your business.
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